In the light of another remarkable court victory affecting BLM management of public lands ranching everywhere in the United States, Idaho Watersheds Project sent out the following news release today (8/23/99).
 

NEWS RELEASE
Hailey, August 23, 1999

BLM Ordered To Obey Its Own Regulations By The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Idaho Watersheds Project (IWP) announced today that a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on August 20th reversed a decision of Idaho Federal District Judge B. Lynn Winmill which incorrectly permitted the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to fail to comply with its own regulations.

In an appeal brought by Idaho Watersheds Project and the Committee for Idaho's High Desert, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed that as a matter of law the BLM must obey the "plain language" of its own regulation which requires that when the agency has determined that livestock grazing is the reason for failure to meet the Fundamentals of Rangeland Health or the Idaho Standards and Guidelines for Rangeland Health, that the agency must change management no later than the start of the next grazing season. The BLM had argued that the regulation only required it to consult with interested parties and issue a proposed decision on paper with no assurance that any changes on the ground would occur at any set time. This particular case testing this provision of BLM regulations was in response to the first "determination" in the United States by the BLM in October 1997 that livestock grazing was a major factor in the failure to meet the Standards and Guidelines for Rangeland Health on the Succor Creek allotment in Owyhee County, Idaho. The BLM issued the determination but has failed to take any action on the ground in the 22 months following its findings !

Laird Lucas of the Land and Water Fund of the Rockies Boise Office, who with Bill Eddie has acted as IWP and CIHD's attorney, stated: " This decision sets national precedent interpreting Secretary Babbitt's rangeland reform regulations. Under this decision, the BLM must act promptly to halt grazing abuses when they are identified, and that action must take place no later than the start of the next grazing season."

Jon Marvel, IWP President, stated: " It is amazing that the BLM has to have the second highest level of the federal courts tell it that its own regulations mean what they say. This decision should result in the agency developing a backbone when it comes to stopping abuses of public lands by welfare ranching. "